For six years beginning at age 12, Lennon Stella wasn’t herself. She was Maddie Conrad on the hit musical drama Nashville, co-starring alongside her younger sister Maisy. By 19, she released her debut EP, 2018’s Love, Me, a pop departure stacked with broody beats, followed closely by 2019’s delightfully deviant single “B*TCH (takes one to know one)”. She toured with The Chainsmokers and 5 Seconds of Summer, and experimentation allowed her the confidence to become candid on her debut album, Three. Two. One., eight years into her career. “This is me releasing myself from the pressure of prior expectations and intimidations,” Stella tells Apple Music. “Three, two, one, I’m diving in and doing what feels good to myself. The album is a free fall.” Her statement piece is stacked with dark dance-club breakup anthems for the end of the world, fuelled by invigorating indie pop (“Kissing Other People”), dystopic disco influences (“Fear of Being Alone”), a fluid Potemkin village reference (“Pretty Boy”), and a brilliant interpolation of the Donna Lewis classic “I Love You Always Forever” (“Save Us”). “Ultimately, I wanted [this album] to be an honest introduction, true to who I am as a human being,” she explains. “And hopefully people will draw parallels to their own lives.”